HC Deb 24 February 1969 vol 778 cc1080-1
37. Mr. Ellis

asked the Attorney-General when the scheme for allowing certain increases in certain conveyancing fees is expected to become operative.

The Attorney-General

The Report of the National Board for Prices and Incomes on the Remuneration of Solicitors included recommendations for both increases and decreases in solicitors' charges. Since the Board reported there have been changes in various factors affecting remuneration and it is desirable that these should be reviewed by the Board. In these circumstances my noble Friend the Lord Chancellor and my right honourable Friend the First Secretary of State propose to make arrangements for the Board to keep solicitors' remuneration under continuous review. In the first instance the Board will be asked to investigate and report on the changes that I have mentioned. Thereafter it will be for the statutory committees to prescribe new scales of charges in the light of the Board's recommendations.

Mr. Ellis

But, in the lower levels, is my right hon. and learned Friend aware that they are proposing increases? Is he further aware that, in Bristol, where there is a number of ground rents, a constituent of mine who pays a ground rent of £2 10s. and wishes to buy it out will have to pay only £25 in toto but also proposed legal fees of £24? Is this not absolutely scandalous? Will he look at this again? Do not lawyers make the most militant trade unionists look like novices when pursuing restrictive practices?

The Attorney-General

I know that the Board recommended increases in a certain range of conveyancing charges and decreases in others, but, as I said, the matter is now being reviewed by the Board and falls for future consideration by the appropriate committees.

Mr. Kenneth Lewis

Is not the right hon. and learned Gentleman simply circumventing the policy of his right hon. Friend the First Secretary, who is sitting beside him, by doing this? How long will this matter be under review? Why does a procedure apply to solicitors' fees which does not normally apply to other people whose charges come before the Board?

The Attorney-General

The procedure is continuous and there is no circumventing of the policy of my right hon. Friend. On the contrary, she is a most consenting party to what is proposed.